‘Game of Thrones’ Stays On Budget By Shopping At IKEA Like The Rest Of Us

Game of Thrones has multiple Emmys under its belt just for the wardrobes of Westeros.

GoT fans can go everywhere from ComicCon to the club in Westeros regalia, from armor to gowns to loin cloths. But when costume designers need to dress their actors on the cheap, guess where they go to? IKEA, just like the rest of us when we need to dress up our homes on a budget.

Not only is this the best IKEA hack ever, it also makes it that much easier to dress up as your favorite Game of Thrones character.

“These capes are actually IKEA rugs,” Michele Clapton told the audience at the Getty museum in Los Angeles while discussing the costumes for the Night’s Watch, the military battalion tasked with guarding the fictional kingdoms’ northern border from giants, zombie armies, and various other threats.

The rugs were cut, shaved, dyed, and then subjected to the rigorous breakdown process that makes the costumes on Game of Thrones look as worn-in as real medieval clothes, she said.

“I want the audience to almost smell the costumes. Here they were waxed and frosted so they belonged to the landscape,” Clapton said.

“The budget is the same every year regardless of what we’re filming—it’s okay, but it’s never enough,” Clapton said in the talk. “Sometimes if you’re restricted it makes you more clever about what you’re doing. You can look at things, you can reuse things.” You can even go to IKEA.